Woody Allen, box office king?

If you can past the xenophobic cinephilia (or wait, would that be the hatred of foreign films?) rising up in you because Europe often gets to see movies before we do, just feast your eyes on this little nugget:

Woody Allen‘s latest comedy,To Rome with Love (set to open stateside on June 22), took in $3.7 million in Italy this past weekend to top that country’s box office. More significant? That amount was more than the total combined grosses for the next five films on the list. And that includes last week’s Italian number one, Battleship (not opening here until May 18), Titanic in 3-D, British sequel Street Dance 2, Mirror, Mirror and French film The Intouchables.

To Rome with Love features Ellen Page, Jesse Eisenberg, Alec Baldwin, Greta Gerwig, Penelope Cruz, Roberto Benigni(!), Judy Davis and Carol Alt, as well as Allen himself. Cruz previously won an Oscar and Davis was nominated for one in Allen-directed films.

Is this Midnight in Paris afterglow or maybe Italian natives showing their love for a movie set in The Eternal City? Allen’s well-documented European sojourn of late has brought him some of the best reviews of his career with Paris and Match Point, and has also included Scoop, Cassandra’s Dream, Vicky Christina Barcelona and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger.

Alas, it might all be coming to an end – or at least a temporary homecoming. Although his 2013 release currently listed as in pre-production is calledUntitled Woody Allen Copenhagen Project, the writer-director-actor said in a press conference in Rome that he was returning to the U.S. for his next film, with filming scheduled for New York City and San Francisco.

CJ Lais

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